BILL NUMBER: SJR 20	CHAPTERED  09/28/99

	RESOLUTION CHAPTER   145
	FILED WITH SECRETARY OF STATE   SEPTEMBER 28, 1999
	ADOPTED IN ASSEMBLY   SEPTEMBER 10, 1999
	ADOPTED IN SENATE   AUGUST 31, 1999

INTRODUCED BY   Senators Alarcon and Kelley

                        JULY 15, 1999

   Senate Joint Resolution No. 20--Relative to the Atlas mill
radioactive tailings site.


	LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST


   SJR 20, Alarcon.  Atlas mill radioactive tailings site.
   This measure would memorialize the President and the Congress of
the United States to take those actions necessary to remove the
radioactive mill tailings from the Atlas mill tailings site to an
environmentally preferred location, and to transfer jurisdiction of
the Atlas mill tailings site from the Nuclear Regulatory Commission
to the Department of Energy, so that the site may be managed and
funded under the Uranium Mill Tailings Radiation Control Act of 1978.




   WHEREAS, The Atlas Corporation operated a uranium processing mill
on the north bank of the Colorado River from 1962 to 1984, inclusive,
and during this time the mill tailings were deposited in an unlined
pond partially located in a flood plain on the north bank of the
Colorado River, approximately three miles from Moab, Utah; and
   WHEREAS, The Atlas mill tailings site consists of ten million five
hundred thousand tons of radioactive mill wastes, making it the
fifth largest uranium tailings pile in the United States, and the
largest site located near a river; and
   WHEREAS, This site lies about 750 feet from the Colorado River as
it flows at normal levels, but occasionally, during spring runoff,
the Colorado River floods the base of the tailing pile; and
   WHEREAS, The Oak Ridge National Laboratory has studied the
groundwater at the site, and has determined tailings contaminants
have already leaked from the Atlas tailings pile, contaminating
groundwater that discharges directly into the Colorado River; and
   WHEREAS, Some of these plumes, containing contaminants such as
ammonia, uranium, molybdenum, and nitrates, are mature and have been
leaking into the river for years, and additional plumes of less
mobile contaminants, such as selenium, are only recently reaching the
river; and
   WHEREAS, The volume of contaminated groundwater is the largest at
any uranium tailings site near a river and includes concentrations of
contaminants hundreds of times higher than the established
background and drinking water standards; and
   WHEREAS, According to the Oak Ridge National Laboratory study, the
tailings pile itself contains 426 million gallons of intensely
contaminated liquids, and if the tailings are capped in place, these
liquids, which are currently leaking into groundwater at
approximately 12,000 to 30,000 gallons per day will still continue,
under current conditions, to seep into the groundwater and into the
Colorado River at a rate of over 5,000 gallons per day for many years
into the future; and
   WHEREAS, The Department of Environmental Quality of the State of
Utah has taken samplings from the Colorado River at locations
downstream from the tailings pile and has determined that 13
pollutants, including ammonia, nitrates, and uranium are present in
dramatically increased amounts directly downstream from the pile; and

   WHEREAS, The Fish and Wildlife Service has stated in a biological
opinion regarding the site that the pollution jeopardizes the
endangered Colorado squawfish and razorback sucker, and also that
capping the tailings in place will not stop the continued
contamination, which will include infiltration of surface water
through the cap and into the tailings pile; and
   WHEREAS, All the water of the Colorado River, including water
downstream from the site, is eventually appropriated for the use of
25 million Americans, including 16 million Southern California
residents in 240 cities, and is also used extensively for the
irrigation of California-grown food crops; and
   WHEREAS, The Department of Energy has spent about $1,000,000,000
removing tailings from sites on the rivers of the southwest,
including sites located at Rifle, Colorado; Grand Junction, Colorado;
and Durango, Colorado, and similarly situated radioactive waste
sites around the country have been remediated by removal of the waste
to an environmentally safe location; and
   WHEREAS, The Nuclear Regulatory Commission favors capping of the
site, although its draft environmental impact study stated that
relocating the tailings is preferable to capping in every respect
except cost; and
   WHEREAS, The cost of removing the tailings and effectively
preventing further contamination of groundwater and of the Colorado
River waters may be as much as $155,000,000, and the Title I
Department of Energy program under the Uranium Mill Tailings
Radiation Control Act of 1978 (42 U.S.C. Sec. 7901 et seq.) has
received federal appropriations for removing tailings from similar
sites and the staff of the Department of Energy staff has developed
expertise in conducting these removals; now, therefore, be it
   Resolved by the Senate and Assembly of the State of California,
jointly, That the Legislature of the State of California memorializes
the President and Congress to take those actions necessary to remove
those radioactive mill tailings from the Atlas mill tailings site to
an environmentally preferred location, so as to protect the waters
of the Colorado River, and the health of the people of California;
and be it further
   Resolved, That the Legislature of the State of California
memorializes the President and the Congress of the United States to
transfer the jurisdiction of the Atlas mill tailings site from the
Nuclear Regulatory Commission to the Department of Energy, so that
the Atlas site may be funded and managed under the Uranium Mill
Tailings Radiation Control Act of 1978; and be it further
   Resolved, That the Secretary of the Senate transmit copies of this
resolution to the President of the United States, and to the
Governor of the State of California, to each Senator and
Representative from California in the Congress of the United States,
to each Representative serving on the House Committee on Resources,
and to the Secretary of the Department of Energy.
